Aftermath: Courir Effrayé
by Amibite
Summary: A week after the horrible news about not being able to materialize Aelita, Jeremy works hard to find a cure for the virus. Unfortunatly, X.A.N.A has other plans... (Chapter 2 is up, R&R)
1. The Beginning

**Code Lyoko: Aftermath**

_Il existeun monde virtual et différent_ **(There is a virtual and different world)**

_Ou chaque seconde fait de nous des combattants_ **(And each of us have warrior alter-egos)**

_Notre seul espoir est de tout reprogrammer_ **(Our only hope is to reprogram it all)**

On ira, on saura sauver notre existence **(One will go, one will be able to save our existence)**  
Se donner une chance de tout effacer **(To be given a chance to erase it all)**  
On ira, on saura sauver notre existence **(One will go, one will be able to save our existence)**  
Pour refaire un monde sans danger **(To remake a world without danger)**

Code Lyoko, tout reprogrammer **(Code Lyoko, reprogram it all)**  
Code Lyoko, un monde sans danger **(Code Lyoko, a world without danger)**  
Code Lyoko, tout reprogrammer **(Code Lyoko, reprogram it all)  
**Code Lyoko, un monde sans danger **(Code Lyoko, a world without danger)**

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Courir Effrayé **(_Running Scared)_**

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A loud shriek pierced the ears of anyone unfortunate enough to be standing in the hallway at the time. The bell signaled that class was over and all the doors in the hallway flew open in unison and the kids began pouring out. The chatter of students was everywhere and it was almost impossible for any adult to have a conversation amidst the chaos.

Ulrich was one of the kids who walked out of the classroom, with his best-friend Odd, who was also his roommate, walking right behind him

"Can't beat hearing the same lecture twice in one day!" Odd beamed out with a goofy look on his face.

Ulrich grumbled and slipped his hands into his pants pocket. "Speak for yourself Odd; I've heard enough of Mrs. Hertz lecture the first time around.

"Think of it this way," Odd replied. "The second time around, you don't have to pay attention! I just doodled in my notebook."

Odd flipped a few pages in his notebook while the two of them walked back to their dorm room. He stopped on a page and bent the cover back behind the rest of the pages and thrust the notebook in Ulrich's face. Ulrich took it sheepishly and was afraid to look at it at first. The last time Odd drew something, it turned out to be a self-portrait of Odd in a deejay's outfit with Tamiya and Milly as his backup dancers.

Ulrich slowly raised his eyes to look at it and then hung his head back down and sighed.

"Odd, how many times have I told you that your self-portraits look nothing like you?"

Odd folded his arms behind his head and snickered lightly. "I think it's a perfect resemblance! I'm a hero on Lyoko and I always save you guys."

"With big macho-man muscles?"

"They don't do me any justice, though," Odd said, taking back the notebook and looking the drawing over.

They arrived at their dorm and opened the door and found Yumi sitting on Ulrich's bed with a magazine in her hand, much to their surprise.

"Hello boys," Yumi said, smiling as she looked up from the magazine.

Ulrich was taken back a bit. "Yumi? What are you doing here? Don't you have class?"

Yumi tossed the magazine onto the bed and stood up. "Our teacher has a case of the flu and they couldn't find a substitute; so they gave us a study period."

Ulrich groaned and dumped his books onto the floor and fell backwards onto his pillow. "That's not fair, I get stuck with another lecture by Mrs. Hertz and you get another study period."

Yumi giggled softly and Odd went over to his desk and piled his books on top of it messily.

"Hey Yumi, want to see my drawing?" Odd asked hopefully.

"Don't do it," Ulrich said, not even bothering to look at either of them.

Before Yumi could reply, her cell phone rang, and she reached into her pocket and answered it. Yumi was silent for a minute and then nodded and said "got it, we'll be right there," and hung up on whoever it was who called her.

"Trouble on Lyoko?" Ulrich asked.

Yumi shook her head quickly. "No, we're done for the day, thankfully. But Jeremy _did _ask us to come by his room as he can discuss some things with us."

Ulrich nodded and sighed. "I'm worried about Jeremy. Ever since he found out Aelita was infected with a virus by X.A.N.A, he has been working non stop on a way to find a cure. He even skipped class today."

Odd beamed a smile and headed towards the door. "I wouldn't worry about him, Jeremy's the type of kid who sets his mind on something and doesn't stop. I'm sure he'll snap out of it soon."

"I hope so," Ulrich replied, a hint of sorrow in his voice.

Yumi laughed and pressed her back against the wall. "He sure is determined though; Aelita is lucky to have someone like him who cares so much about her."

Ulrich groaned. "I could be like that if I felt like it."

"I didn't say anything about you," Yumi retorted, "unless you're just jealous."

Ulrich blushed lightly and turned away from Yumi. "Of course not; I'm just saying."

Odd laughed and turned the door knob and opened the door. "Quit it, you two love bird. Jeremy's waiting for us."

An embarrassing silence lingered in the air until Yumi laughed as well and walked out of the room with Ulrich blushing and grumbling behind her. Odd flipped off the light switch and closed the door.

* * *

The sound of dripping water from the leaky pipes was heard all throughout the dinky storage room. The sound of dogs barking could also be heard on the other side of the only door to the small room. An electrical outlet in the corner of the storage area crackled with electricity faintly. The crackling grew louder until the entire outlet exploded in a sparkle of energy. The plug was now exposed and the copper tips of the wires emitted a faint glow of electricity that illuminated the entire room. A charge of electricity shot out and slammed into a nearby large bag of dog food. More strains of electricity shot out from the outlet and wrapped the bag in a cage of blue lighting. Moments later, the light faded and the room stood bare just like it had been a few minutes ago.

Footsteps could be heard from the other side of the door. A jingling of keys followed the steps that stopped right outside the door. The door shook a bit and the sound of a faint click could be heard from the lock. The door swung open and a large man in a dirty uniform stepped into the room. He bent down and grabbed the bag of dog food and checked it over.

"Damn rats tearing holes in these bags," he muttered as he stood back up and exited the room. The door locked automatically and the only other sound was the loud muttering of the man from before.

"Time for your feedin', ya' dirty mutts."


	2. The Outbreak

The hue of indigo poured through the window and into the dorm room, casting a depressing glow of purple on Jeremy's face as he vigorously typed away at his keyboard. 

Yumi was slumped against the wall looking out the window while Odd and Ulrich were hovering behind Jeremy and checking out the program Jeremy was working on. Odd has a confused look on his face and quickly grew bored, wondering over to browse the belongings on Jeremy's shelf.

Ulrich groaned and glanced over at Yumi, who seemed lost in contempt. He then looked at Odd and thought he saw him break something. Finally, Jeremy broke away from his work and greeted them.

"I'm glad you guys could come," Jeremy said as he spun his chair around the face the others. "I have some great news."

Odd put whatever trinket he had in his hands back on the desk and walked over to sit on Jeremy's bed. "What is it, genius?"

"Is it a way to get the virus out of Aelita and finally materialize her for good?" Yumi said as she shifted her gaze over to Jeremy.

On cue, a small message box popped up on Jeremy's computer screen and signaled Aelita's entrance. She greeted everyone with a few hellos and was eager to hear what Jeremy had to say.

Jeremy shook his head slowly. "Not quite, but I learned that the virus is really just a basic program X.A.N.A installed in her as a safeguard. It's designed to activate in the case where we pull the plug on Lyoko. It will trigger an electric pulse that will make it's way to Aelita's brain and shut off her spinal cord function as well as parts of her central nervous system."

Aelita let out a soft gasp and took in the information. "What does that mean, exactly?"

Jeremy turned around to face her, rubbing the back of his head in nervousness. "It basically means you'll be no more than an empty body. A vegetable, if you will."

Ulrich stroked his chin and thought. "Is there anything you can do?"

Jeremy shook his head slowly. "No, X.A.N.A's code is too complex. If I'm to make any progress at all, I'll need time to figure out how to decipher it and alter the program."

Jeremy paused for a minute, and quickly added, "but it _is _able to be fixed. I just need the time."

Aelita smiled softly. "That's great."

Yumi rose to her feet and walked over to Jeremy, pulling up an extra chair that was in the room and sitting down facing him. "Speaking of time, the rest of us have been talking and we're a little concerned with you."

Odd leaned forward and grinned. "Yeah, we think you're spending a little too much time with this project, it's like-"

Ulrich cut Odd off quickly, "what Odd means is, it's nice your determined to find a way to fix Aelita, but it's starting to affect your classes."

Jeremy clenched his fists slightly, lowering his head so that Aelita couldn't see his face. "But I'm so close to figuring this out. Don't you guys want to be rid of X.A.N.A for good? Then we could spend time with Aelita in our world and never have to worry about the next X.A.N.A attack."

Ulrich reached out and patted Jeremy on the back. "We know you mean well, it's just we're a little worried."

"Jeremy?" Aelita said suddenly.

Jeremy looked up at the computer screen. "Yes, Aelita?"

Aelita had a look of sadness on her face, but she tried to cover it up with a happy expression. "I'm flattered you're devoting your free time to figure out a way to help me, but if it's affecting your school time, well… " She trailed off.

Silence fell upon the room as the moon slowly began to rise outside the window, casting unusual shadows across the courtyard below and inside their room.

Ulrich broke the silence. "Look, it's getting dark, let's sleep on it and then talk about it after class tomorrow."

Everyone nodded and everyone sans Jeremy got up and headed for the door.

"You'll be there too, right?" Yumi said, looking back at Jeremy.

Jeremy paused for a minute and nodded. "Yeah, I will. Sorry I worried you all; I'm just excited."

"We all are," Odd said and winked at him. "Good luck, genius. Make sure you get some sleep tonight and not spend your night with your virtual friend."

Jeremy blushed a little and Aelita couldn't help but laugh at the remark.

"Come on," Ulrich said and pushed Odd out of the room, annoyed.

Yumi waved quickly and then closed the door.

Jeremy turned back around and faced Aelita. "I guess I'll follow their advice, then. I need to get ready for bed."

Aelita smiled and nodded. "See you tomorrow, Jeremy. Good night."

"Good night," Jeremy said as he leaned forward and switched off his computer.

He stood up and rummaged through the mess Odd had made and pulled out his towel and a pair of pajamas and then picked out a bottle of shampoo and a bar of soap from the basket in the corner of his room. He then walked over to the door and opened it, walking out into the hallway and closing it right behind him.

Unbeknownst to Jeremy, Sissi was perched around the corner with a smug look on her face.

* * *

Gerald groaned and kicked his feet up on the security desk and turned the volume up on his portable TV. He popped open a bag of chips and prepared for another long night of boring security duty at the local dog pound. He popped a few barbeque flavored chips into his mouth and muttered under his breath. 

"I need a better job."

As if fate tempted him, he heard a strange noise come from the back room where the dogs were kept.

"Keep it down!" he shouted, grumbling at the horrible reception the TV was getting.

The noise started back up again and Gerald identified it as all the dogs barking in unison, which was weird. The dogs usually just bark in their own order and not follow any set pattern. Gerald grumbled and turned the TV up louder, but the barking was impossible to drown out. He eventually gave up, sighed, and stood up. He walked over to the door and opened it and stepped inside.

"Keep it down you mutts!" Gerald shouted, hitting one of the nearby cages.

The dogs continued to bark in the same eerie unison they had before, almost like they were chanting something. Some of them snarled and growled. Others simple stood in their cages with blank expressions on their faces. Gerald couldn't help but feel a bit freaked out.

The barking suddenly stopped and Gerald stood there, dumbfounded. He looked around the room looking for an answer to the odd problem, but didn't see one. He scratched the back of his head and shrugged, turning around and heading for the door.

Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound rang out across the room. Gerald's heart skipped a beat and he cursed himself for being so jumped. He turned around to find the source of the noise, and was horrified at what he saw. All the dog cages had been opened electronically by the security system.

A few dogs jumped out of her cages and trotted around the room, getting their bearings. A small cocker spaniel with fluffy fur bent down and began sniffing the floor. It then raised its head back up and stared straight at Gerald.

Gerald took a step back, but collected himself and reached to the wall slowly to grab the net hanging on the supply rack.

"Come here little doggy, time to get back in your cage," Gerald said as he inched forward towards the spaniel.

A flash of tan in the corner of his eye caught his attention and he saw two great danes leap out from their cages and land right behind him. More dogs came leaping from their cages and before Gerald, knew it, he was surrounded by about seventy dogs with blank expressions on their face.

Gerald gasped in horror when he realized he left the front door wide open, which meant the dogs could escape if they saw the opportunity. Gerald began edging back towards the door to close it, but it was too late.

Suddenly, all the dog snapped to attention and their eyes were covered in a bright red glow. They started howling and barking and then charged Gerald. Gerald screamed as he was tackled to the ground and the dogs bit into his clothes and tore up his uniform. He screamed for help, but the dogs continued to bite and claw at him, sinking their teeth deep into his skin and tearing into him. His body swelled up with pain and he cried out in horror and begged for them to stop.

Before Gerald knew it, the dogs suddenly stopped for some unknown reason. He laid on the floor, battered and bruised, as he looked up at the numerous dogs who seemed to be looking up at the ceiling, like someone up there was talking to them, or issuing them commands. The dogs then suddenly bolted for the door and ran out into the reception area and then out the side door that led to the outside. Gerald groaned and stood up, checking himself for any serious injury

"What just happened?" he asked, making his way over to the phone. He picked it up and dialed animal control.

"Hello? Yes, this Gerald Perez, I'm a security guard at the Paris dog pound. Uh huh, look, you're not going to believe this; but we have a big problem."


End file.
